London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Firms don't plan to rush back to offices on Monday

Firms don't plan to rush back to offices on Monday

Large businesses have said they will maintain a cautious approach to bringing staff back to the office despite the lifting of final Covid restrictions in England on Monday.

The government announced yesterday that it will no longer instruct people to work at home from 19 July.

But firms spoken to by the BBC said they did not plan to bring all staff back to the office.

Many businesses said they will opt for a staggered approach for employees.

Deloitte said it will increase the number of staff allowed to work in its offices to 50% capacity from next week.

But the accountancy firm expects that level to stay in place until September.

NatWest said that it will bring staff back to the office from 19 July but it will only be a small number of "priority workers".

Insurance group Aviva said it expects "to see more of our people returning". But a spokesman said that "the vast majority of people at Aviva want to work flexibly in future" and employees will combine going into the office with working from home.

On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that final restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of Covid will be lifted in England from 19 July, including the guidance on office working.

But the government said that it "would expect and recommend a gradual return" of workers to offices "over the summer".

Deloitte currently operates its offices at 30% capacity and employees have to book desks. A spokeswoman for the firm said it had always intended to take a "gradual approach" to moving staff back to its sites.

Deloitte will allow more people back to its offices from Monday

It estimates that it will take between six and eight weeks to prepare its offices to deal with 100% capacity which it expects to reach in September.

NatWest said a "very small number of people" will be invited back to its offices in England from Monday for roles "that can't really be done from home". These include market traders as well as people who work in NatWest's treasury department and roles where employees need to meet clients.

It also said "people who would rather work in the office for wellbeing reasons" can return to its sites from Monday.

Accountancy firm KPMG has allowed people to work from its offices if they made a request to their manager.

'Four-day fortnight'


From next week, they will no longer need permission to do so but the firm has also introduced a "four-day fortnight" hybrid model of working. It means that KPMG employees spend four days working in the office and the rest of the fortnight either at home or at client sites.

"It makes sense that the order to work from home if possible is removed at this stage," said Confederation of British Industry policy director, Michael Fell. "The reality is that many firms are well-advanced in their plans and are proceeding with hybrid working models, just as the government advises.

Roger Barker, policy director of the Institute of Directors (IoD) industry group, said: "Businesses across the country will welcome the opportunity to begin to return to relative normality from next week."

However, he criticised the government for failing to provide adequate guidance on areas such as wearing face masks which, from Monday, will cease to be mandatory but will be recommended.

Dr Barker said there has been "real frustration about the mixed messages" businesses have been receiving from the government.

"The latest guidance has shifted the responsibility from the government to businesses by removing mandatory rules on things like face masks and replacing them with voluntary recommendations," he said. "Whilst it is right that companies should be allowed to take decisions based on their own unique circumstances, it is vital that government provides businesses with best practice in developing their own policies."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×